Cryptocurrencies: The Idea Whose Time Has Come

We concluded at the time that $997 Bitcoin was a fool’s gold… that Dr. Market would soon read Bitcoin a severe lesson in reality.

By our lights, $997 was so completely out of court… such a fever-mad delirium… such a derangement of the senses…

That it would all come to grief. And soon.

Yet the date now reads Aug. 9.

One solitary bitcoin now fetches $3,460 — over thrice the price.

And the only lesson Dr. Market has taught comes at our own expense — some $2,460 per Bitcoin in lost opportunity — if our math holds.

And so the egg on our face builds by the day.

To remind, what is a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin?

Our cryptocurrency authority Louis Basenese:

Essentially, a cryptocurrency is a digital currency that operates outside of any government control. That means these currencies cannot be manipulated by central banks like our own Federal Reserve or other central banks around the world.

Perhaps that helps you realize why so many who oppose the Fed’s monopoly on money have the crypto bit wedged between their teeth.

And cryptocurrencies’ boomers say they contain built-in safeguards against inflation… which make them practically good as gold.

Even better, according to some.

And since one bitcoin is presently worth roughly 2.7 ounces of gold… perhaps they even have a case to bring before the jury.

Louis believes Bitcoin could conceivably reach $10,000.

From today’s $3,460, that’s almost a tripling of price.

Handsome, no doubt — but not quite the stuff of dreams.

The stuff of dreams?

Some weeks back, we noted that a meager $100 bitcoin grubstake in 2010 was now worth an impossible $76 million.

That $76 million pot of digital gold could have been your reward — if you only had the foresight to snatch $100 of bitcoin seven years ago and sit upon it like a brooding hen.

Alas, Bitcoin has worked its miracles. It can never repeat them. Not on the same scale, anyway.

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About Brian Maher:

Brian Maher is the Daily Reckoning’s Managing Editor. Before signing on to Agora Financial, he was an independent researcher and writer who covered economics, politics and international affairs. His work has appeared in the Asia Times and other news outlets around the world. He holds a Master’s degree in Defense & Strategic Studies.